Deepankar:
I feel like I'm making zero progress in every single session. Obviously, I shouldn't compare myself to others but it would be nice to know if there is a plateau at the start of the path, where there is a feeling that you're not getting anywhere.
Meditation is a much different practice than anything that's conscious or intellectual. It works very subconsciously, outside of really being able to percieve the changes that are happening --- until the changes become big enough and then it's obvious.
The single biggest problem is not maintaining a consistent practice. Change will occur if practice is consistent.
So how do you keep yourself motivated? You make time-in-practice itself the goal and feel good about just doing the practice. One great way to stay motivated is to get a calendar, find a day 45 days from now and circle it. And then sit today. When you are done, but a big "X" through today's date ---- and don't break the chain of X's. Don't worry about weeks ahead, just get your X for the day. (Or maybe it's a ! or

, whatever). 45 days creates a new habit. You'll probably actually looking forward to siting, rather than just trying to fit it in.
After that 45 days happens -- protect your practice. Make sure you arrange your life/day, so that you can keep it up.
The first sign of progress shouldn't be overlooked: it's the fact that you CAN sit everyday. If you do that, then you are actually a meditator --- something that is maybe only 1/100th or 1/1000th or 1/10,000th of the people in the world can say. You have made it into a very elite club! That's progress, no shit! So make sure you give yourself credit for that accomplishment.
The second sign is that >other people< start noticing a difference in you. Chances are you won't even notice and, if asked, you would say, I'm just sitting and having crappy sits and kinda working my way through TMI but I'm not very far... but other people will notice you are waking up out of you usual patterns. That's the deep changes that happen.
The third sign is more "mapable" progress, but then you fact the next biggest problem and it is a killer --- you wind up "chasing the map", trying to make the experience in the next stage happen. You can't reach a stage and you have huge doubts about making progress in this lifetime. You try to make it happen and you can't and you just want to give up. That whole attitude is exactly wrong. The point is to >fully experience the stage you are in< and when you can successfully do that, then the next stage opens up. It's like walking up steps, you need to move your whole body weight onto a step... and then it is natural to take the next step.
By now you'll realize that even the maps themselves aren't the point. The point is consistent practice, you do that and things happen. You have confidence that one way or another, things will work out and you'll continue making progresss.
Usually during this killer stage you'll want to reach out to teachers and get some help. They will help you remember to just keep it simple and return to "I'll just make sure I practice today" -- then you'll make progress. Practice can kind of go off on a tangent, but if you have senior students/teachers/spiritual friends, you'll find your way back and make progress all the way to awakening.
Hope that helps!